Theory and Practice Summary and Analysis

Capitalism, according to Rand, is based on altruistic principles and this is one of the ways in which conservatives try to justify a capitalist society. This means the capitalist must be willing to sacrifice to achieve his goal. It means the individual is willing to sacrifice for the common good. This causes problems because one individual's welfare cannot be increased by another's sacrifice and this is why there are failures. Pre-capitalists societies were based on the wealthy class exploiting the lower classes with little protection of individual rights. Capitalism cannot function with slaves. The North fought the South in the Civil War to free the slaves for the economic need of a free labor market. Capitalism was the reason for the end of feudalism and slavery.

Capitalism, based on freedom, has achieved standards of living much higher...